The Watershed Planning Assistance Grant Program was authorized by the
1997 Montana Legislature to assist Conservation Districts with expenses
associated with watershed planning. $
144,750 will be available for the 2004 fiscal year beginning
Conservation Districts must be the applicant.
Types of Projects
Funding
is available only for local watershed planning activities. The program is intended to support:
1.
New watershed
planning efforts with start-up expenses.
2.
On-going
watershed planning efforts with a definable tasks or products, outlined in a
current Watershed Plan or Plan of Work. The
application should clearly demonstrate how the proposed activities relate to
the attached plan.
Examples of watershed planning activities
that could be funded under this program might include, but are not limited to,
such things as:
1.
Collection of
baseline resource information to serve as a foundation for local watershed groups
to make decisions.
2.
Facilitation
and/or coordination of public scoping meetings.
3.
Development
of a watershed plan.
4.
Training
of local people in the various aspects of watershed planning.
5.
Planning
and carrying out educational workshops or tours.
6.
Incidental
costs (supplies, postage, photocopies, meeting room, etc.).
7.
Provide
temporary staffing or private consultant services tied to a specific task or
product.
This program is not
an appropriate source of funding for:
1.
Implementation
of site-specific design and construction projects.
2.
For
hiring permanent staff.
3.
Writing
or promoting Conservation District Bureau related grants (i.e. 223).
4.
There
is a $10,000 limit per request. A
conservation district may submit additional requests provided they are
associated with separate watershed planning efforts within their district.
Application
Guidelines:
Requests for funding will be in the form of a letter addressing
the following four items:
1)
Commitment – Outline the level of commitment and
participation by the applicant and /or local watershed group.
2)
Proposed
Activity Description
– Provide a two to three sentence overview that succinctly describes your
project.
1.
New
groups should attach a detailed narrative that explains the task(s) and/or
product(s) that will be completed, how they will be accomplished, who will do
the work, and how this activity fits into the overall watershed planning
effort.
2.
On-going groups should attach a current Watershed
Plan and/or Plan of Work for existing watershed planning efforts.
3)
Timeframe for accomplishing the activity.
4)
Itemized
Budget – Two
components:
3.
Detailed
itemization on how grant funds would be used broken down by the specific
tasks/products identified above.
4.
DNRC
coordinates its funding both internally and with other grantors. Please help us by, providing information on
other existing, pending, and/or past contributions (grants, loans, in-kind
services) explaining how they tie in with this grant. For each grant include the grantor, the
amount, and expiration date.
There are no
match requirements, but identifying local contributions and other
state/federal/private program involvement is important.
5.
Selection
of projects will be based upon the importance of the activity in getting a new
watershed planning effort started or to help further the goals/objectives of an
existing watershed group.
6.
The
DNRC-CARDD and MACD staff will review these requests when received. A decision
on the request will be made within 30 days.
Click Here For Complete grant guidelines